Thursday, February 28, 2013

A Peak at Our Week: Session 4 Week 1 - The One With Sour Lemons

In Our Life the Last 2 Weeks
Life has sure given us a lot of sour lemons lately. Boxes of them! We've turned some of those lemons into lemonade, and someday the rest of them will be made into something "refreshing" too. Lemons can be good, right? In the meantime, we're thankful for the family and friends in our lives, our health, homeschooling, and the continued comfort of our home.

And Mother Nature has given us one of the snowiest winters in February. Ever. It's been one of those winters where we just haven't been "into" the snow so fortunately the temperatures are warmer now and the snow isn't sticking around for long despite coming down in FOOT measurements. How long until spring?



Things I Worked On
✔ Decluttering the Downstairs
✔ Scrubbing Down the Frig
 Steam-cleaning the Carpets
✔ Fixing 2 Kitchen Drawers...Twice
 Organizing School Supplies

What We're Cooking
Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole with Steamed Corn
Spaghetti and Mozzarella-stuffed Meatballs with steamed Green Beans
Scrambled Egg, Bacon and Cheddar Cheese English Muffin Sandwiches with Pineapple
Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies


This Week in Our Homeschooling
Have you seen Coursera? It's this FREE on-line resource where you can sign up for college level video instruction from universities around the world. White Pine started a Computer Science 101 self-study this week. I'm doing it with him since my CS knowledge comes to a complete halt after Facebook, e-mail and Blogger. He's enjoyed my stumbling attempts at programming code a little too much. ::wink:: Kids pick up this stuff way quicker than adults, don't they?

Now, I don't want to jinx it by saying anything, but Balsam Fir still seems to like Lego Math (i.e. Math-U-See Beta). ::crossing fingers:: He wrapped up lesson 1 and started 2 this week, having time to build with the blocks after each worksheet. Maybe this is THE Math for him!

Sugar Maple continued her Health studies independently, studying body systems. She's wanted to "spread her wings" and be more responsible for her learning. Go, SM! And Balsam Fir is using Lakeshore Science Folder games. We're inbetween science studies right now, waiting for spring to arrive and continue Botany.



And we read about the Dark Ages and the spread of Christianity from the fallen Roman Empire to England through the Archbishop of Canterbury Augustine and his monks. The sapling created some fancy letters like the monks did as they copied books word-by-word. Sugar Maple enjoyed this creative activity, but, well, Balsam Fir, scribbled his down with some color and was D-O-N-E. ::shrug:: He did a little better on our Justinian and Theodora paper dolls when we moved onto the Byzantine Empire, but just a tad. Coloring is not his thing!

White Pine's Accomplishments
Julius Caesar, Algebra Lessons 73-75: Factoring Squares, Probability, Scientific Notation, Slope, Biology Chapter 22: Plants, CS 101 (Week 1; Code, Variables and Digital Images), Europe: Geography and History

Sugar Maple's Accomplishments
The Incredible Journey, Creative Story (3127 words), Reading Comprehension (pp 112-115), Word Builder (Gr 3: Unit 8-16), Lessons 100-103: Fractions and Division and Circles, Xtra Math: Subtraction (97%), Skeletal, Respiratory and Muscular Systems, Archbishop Augustine, Byzantine Empire (Justinian and Theodora),

Balsam Fir's Accomplishments
Daniel's Duck, Writing Journal, Word Builder (Gr 1: Completed, Gr 2: ), MUS: Lesson 1: Place Value and Addition Facts (Test 17/18), MUS: Lesson 2: Sequence, Water Cycle, Archbishop Augustine, Byzantine Empire (Justinian and Theodora)

Books, Books, Books
We had only a few chapters to read before finishing up The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe before vacation, but our reading together time got pushed aside with all of life's happenings.  So, (finally) onto Prince Caspian next week! 

People We Saw, Places We Went
★ Ice Skating and Shopping with Grandparents and M_ (All) ★ T_ and L_ (WP)  Bowling and Dinner with Grandparents (All)  Scouts (WP/BF) ★ Band (SM) ★ Library 

Something to Share

Thanks for stopping by Our Side of the Mountain! We're linking up to these wonderful blog hops! Oh, and since our days are pretty chaotic right now, I'm postponing the Explorers Blog Hop until spring. But stop back next week to see what we're up to in our Peak at Our Week post! 

21 comments:

  1. I missed hearing from you on your blog. I am glad to hear you are all doing well. Your winter looks lovely as did our one day of true snow.

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  2. Love the photos! Especially the orange ;) I have to live vicariously through you guys with snow. The coldest we get here is a little bit of frost... maybe ;) Proud of Sugar Maple taking her studies on herself! That's awesome! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!

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  3. We have the opposite here. My kids have been complaining we haven't had any real snow. They are praying we get at least 1 storm before spring come.

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  4. Your snow is beautiful! Wish we had more here, but I fear winter is over. Have a great weekend!

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  5. Lots of good in your week. I hope Spring and good times come your way soon.
    Blessings, Dawn

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  6. I'm so over the snow too.. Man it seems like that is all it does lately! I need to see spring soon. We are getting cabin fever bad! I do have a ton of projects going on though, perhaps I should narrow down to just one, so I can finish one right! :) Miss talking to you... we should catch up sometime soon!

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  7. My kids just LOVED your snow photo. They are complaining that we haven't gotten any significant snow at all this year. They just want to go sledding once. :-) It always amazes me how much you get done with your kids. I am so impressed with the material that you cover.

    The afghan you saw in the picture on my blog was crocheted by my grandmother many years ago. :-) She, too, is gone, now, so it is nice to have some of her handiwork be able to "warm" up another generation. I am the only one out of her children and grandchildren who she taught to crochet, so I feel especially blessed. I hope to teach my daughter someday.

    Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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  8. At least you know how to put all that indoor time to good use! I think it would take me a month to get all those household projects done. Have you listened to the birds? They are singing despite the weather. They know spring is on its way! Keep perfecting your lemonade recipe. You'll be drinking it soon enough! :-)
    My latest post My latest post Birding by Ear: A Whole New World

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  9. We haven't had much snow here. I am ready for spring anyway. Great accomplishments this week! I like the way you always have new things starting along with the old materials.

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  10. We've had late snow this year too, been pretty strange. It even snowed today, March 1st.

    I love the project idea to copy the books like monks with the fancy lettering. I'll have to remember that for next year. You are just a fount of cool ideas!

    We LOVE Narnia here. Now you've got me wanting to re-read them myself.

    Have a great weekend.

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  11. wow - I still can't get over all that snow! (fl girl)

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  12. Lots of things going on Jessy! Your snow is beautiful. We never get huge amounts of snow but we got NONE this year. It snowed around us last night but not here. I just found Coursera about a month ago and pinned it. I will have to check into that course since Keilee has become interested in coding just this week.

    You got so much done around your house! Wow, wanna come to my house and clean? :) Hope life gives you much more lemonade than lemons in the upcoming weeks.

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  13. I cannot tell you how excited I am to have found your blog! I LOVE it!!!! And I am so very happy to connect with somebody local (Maine!)... I look forward to following along regularly and communicating more with you. We have six day old chicks on order for mid May so are looking forward to beginning our journey with chickens. I love your egg count in the side bar. So fun to see all that we have to look forward to.

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  14. Your picture of the snow makes me homesick for it for about thirty seconds and then feeling disappears! I can understand the life being full of lemons as we've had our share lately. Have a great week!

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  15. Looks like a great week! Love the snow and frosted limbs :) We got a foot of snow in mid-February, too. Ice skating is on my daughter's "to do" list. We don't have one too close, so it makes for a very long day trip and I've put it off -- I guess I need to make it happen.

    Blessings on your Sunday!

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  16. What a beautiful photo of the snow! I hope things are looking better for you soon:)
    I do love that last quote with the orange though...I think we can all relate at times.

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  17. Beautiful snow photo - I love it! Glad you're able to make lemonade from all your lemons. 8-)

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  18. You are quite busy! I love the photos. One day perhaps my own kids will see snow. I keep planning it but it doesn't work that way.

    Have a great week.. dropped by from the Hip Homeschool Hop.

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  19. Bless your heart.
    I hope and pray things are looking up!
    I am actually jealous of the snow.

    Blessings,
    Emily

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  20. What a week! The snow looks gorgeous! I must admit though, I am very happy to be seeing signs of spring in our part of the world!

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